Rare find on Vancouver Island supports Sir Francis Drake secret visit.

It was apparently a 16^th century secret voyage by Sir Francis Drake.

A man with a metal detector has discovered an old coin which supports the theory that Francis Drake visited the west coast of Canada some two centuries before the Spanish or the voyage of renowned British navigator  James Cook, in the 1770’s

In 1579 Drake was on a voyage around the world, attacking Spanish ships and settlements along the way. He is known to have reached the California coast before sailing west across the Pacific, but some suspect he first continued northward to present day Vancouver Island and beyond.

This part of the trip to previously “undiscovered” areas was ordered to be kept secret by Queen Elizabeth I in order to protect England’s strategic interests in the New World.

In December, retired security specialist, Bruce Campbell, was combing the shoreline with a metal detector on Vancouver Island when he came upon a bit of metal a few centimetres down covered in clay.

Later cleaned up and examined, it proved to be a shilling made during the reign of Edward VI, between 1551-53.

Curator of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Grant Keddie, says this now makes three coins from that period that have been found along the BC coast.

A former BC provincial politician, Samuel Bawlff is a proponent of the theory that Drake visited what is now the Canadian west coast and wrote a book in 2003 on the subject. He  based his research on encrypted maps, and British archival documents from the 1500’s.  He says the coins provide added weight to the theory about Drake’s visit.  He notes that Drake did give gifts to natives he encountered on his trip, and while the voyage was kept secret to prevent information about his findings secret from Spanish enemies, leaving coins behind would be proof of prior British presence.